Real-time indoor localization of service robots using fisheye camera and laser pointers

Abstract

This paper presents a new real-time localization method for indoor service robots based on camera and laser. First of all, it is proved that planar motion of an upward camera in the floor plane can be solved by only two matching points with equal depth. Then, a real-time indoor localization method is proposed accordingly using an upward fisheye camera mounted on the robot and two fixed laser pointers which project red and green laser spots onto the ceiling. In addition, to improve the localization accuracy, an Extended Kalman Filter is employed with active matching to speed up laser spots recognition process. Finally, the proposed method is implemented on a mobile developer board, and tested with P3-DX platform in indoor environment. Experimental results show the excellent performance of the given method.